, 1887-02-19

uAA ~ uLOOAHOb tC0OlO 0uA %'NJ
cry out loudly, and their cry is the more
audible because of the actual suffering OF %
peculiarly audible class, those who w land
or are dependent on the owners Of 1t.
That class lost in the worst of the lean
years, probably E4O, 000,O 900 a year, and is
still exceedingly poor but the people have
suffered little or nothing. Their wages
have not declined as much as the prices of
the things they buy, they are increasing
i'll thrift, and they reap most Of the advan-
tage from every form of oyer-pToduction.
1t wheat and sugar drop to ruinous prices,
the body of the people get their sugar and
bread at two-thirds of the sums ordinarily
demanded. There has, in fact, been no
loss sustained by the nation, unless it be
loss of energy in producing such an increa-
sed quantity Of things for the same money,
and loss of heart from the apparently
smaller return earned by the capitalist.
The classes are out of spirits; but the
masses suffer only from a certain decrease
in the cOnstancy of employment, due part
~ to the failure of agriculture, partly to
their own rapid increase in numbers, III
t~elligence, and effectiveness.
AS regards the causes of the low profits,
the Commissioners are equally in accord
with public sentiment. The low profits,
they say, nave been due chiefly to over,
production, to uper.abundanCe ofcapital,
and to a fall of prices, upon which they
purpose to send in a special report. The
over, production, which is the first
cause, is a frequent phenomenon of trade,
and though it usually cOrrectS itself rapid
ly, correction has this time been retarded
by many accidentally concurring causes,
such as increased tariffs in foreign coun-
tries, the general injury to the agricultu-
raj consumer from bad weather and Anne
rican competition, the increasing skill of
foreign artisans, and the abundance Of
accumulated money wanting employment.
In other and simpler words, capitalists
have been unusually unwilling to go out
of accustomed though prOdtleSs ocCupA-
lions, because new occupations were hard
er than usual to find. General Over-prO-
duction, the Commissioners say, is impoS-
sible, but production till profit is almost
imperceptible is quite possible; and this
has occurred, aud for the reasons given
has lasted beyond all precedent. That
seems sound, more especially it We remem-
Der, as the Commissioner do, that all
through the lean years accumulation has
been going on, that accumulation of itself
reduces prOhtiust as glutreduceS price, that
Investments have becOmel less and less prof
table-or, as we usually say. have become
dearer-and that, consequently, the tempt
alton to go on i'll old businesses, even at a
loss, has been very great. Smith may
want 10 per cent, from his cOttonS instead
of 4; but if investments only yield 3, and
other businesses only 5, aud his capital
goes Cd growing, he sticks to the trade he
knows best, and lives on hope. Upon the
third cause of low profit, the fall i'll prices,
the Committee DO not enter; but they re-
cord their opinion that it is one grand
cause of the depression, and hint that 1t
is due in the main to an appreciation OF
gold. They mention a few other reasons
for low profits, such as increasing cOmpe-
tition; but they evidently attach to them
but slight Importance, while they utterly
%repudiate the argument that the workmen
are to blame, saying that strikes and Uni;
ons have done no appreciable harm, hat
shorter hours have been 50 far even COM
mercially beneficial, and that the British
workman is admitted to be, on the whole,
the best in the world. He demands short
hours and high pay; but he is still the
most efficient.
Lastly, as to remedies. There are none.
The Commissioners tell the manufacturing
and commercial classes that they must
put their Shoulders to the wheel more
heartily, seek new markets more diligently,
learn more intelligently, especially Ian
guages, and generally exert themselves
more theoretically but that very general
dviea is all thew have to offer. Stay,